Thursday, January 17, 2008

Money Can Buy You Happiness For A Modest Moment by Jason WittWhen you receive the Seal you will know what you are worth, and it will make you happy. A new study shows many people are happy about themselves when they buy something expensive, but such happiness does not last.

The study was published Monday January 14 2008 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It shows that when you buy something, your happiness increases along with its perceived value.

In this study, people received brain scans while they sampled different wines. The wines varied greatly in price--some of them were cheap wines that cost $5 and some of them were expensive, costing $90.

When the subjects thought they were drinking wine that cost $90, their medial orbital frontal cortex showed more activity. That is one part of the brain responsible for registering moments of pleasure.

But what is revealing is that the subjects showed this increased activity of thinking of pleasure when they thought the wine was worth $90 even when they were deceived and the wine they drank was only worth $5.

People believe that the higher prices indicate a higher-quality product. So they believe they are having a better experience using the higher-priced product, and their brain thinks "pleasure" when that happens.

And the chief of the study, Antonio Rangel, says that this is likely to be true across a much more broad scale than just the wines. It is likely to be true for many different kinds of products and many different kinds of people.

This means that people believe they can buy happiness, even if that feeling only lasts a short time. Some psychologists believe people want to "be" more so they buy more, thinking it makes them more.

And that, says psychologists, is when a person gets confused. They can truly believe if they own an item with a high perceived value that they themselves are worth more.

So when they buy an expensive item, they believe it is worth more. Then they believe that they are worth more because they own the product. Spending money on pricey products is promoting their self-esteem.

But many people are also made happy by finding a "valuable" product on sale. If they perceive the product is worth more and they are able to buy it for less, they still have joy in buying it. It is all about what people believe a product is worth. They relate themselves to the product. They believe they are worth a lot because they own a product they believe is worth a lot. Even if they did not pay full price for the product.

This kind of happiness in buying is only temporary, at least according to the authors of this study. The scans of the brain only showed pleasure associated with the expensive wine for a few moments.

When you are sealed you will come to know a joy that will last. You will not find your worth in your possessions. But you will not find your worth in your accomplishments or achievements either. When you are sealed you will find your worth in the Seal.

The seal is God's Name He writes upon you. To be claimed by God in this way is the highest status symbol ever given to any people. That is because God is "higher" than people. And when God claims you He lifts you up far above any heights you could attain. You will be worth much more and you will be happier when you receive the Seal.